Here’s A Somewhat Successful Way Of Dodging The Road Tax

Like everyone, Mexicans want a bargain wherever they can find it. And, cars bought here are no bargain. Cars bought in the United States are a bargain. So, they go up there, or send a relative up, or have relatives who live there, and can drive a U.S. plated car down to them. Cool. They’re good to go, no?

No. This makes the Mexican tax authorities very unhappy. And when the tax authorities are unhappy about your ride, you are not going to hang on to it for very long. This is why if the police catch a Mexican driving a U.S. car, they confiscate it. Sure it’s sometimes unhandy that you can’t send your Mexican employe on an errand in your car but the Mexican knows damn well he can’t be caught driving it. Everyone knows it, and now you do too.

But it’s expensive to import a car. Just to screw those Baja plates on your car you have to jump through a lot of hoops and pay a lot of money. The rules change all the time, including the short list of what years are even eligible for importation. The car can’t be too old, or too new, and its going to cost you between $1000 to $2000 , and more if you go through a more expensive fixer.

So there are quasi legal workarounds, used to be only one, but now there’s another.

Onappafa is a so called non profit, benevolent but not cheap organization that fends off the government for you if you are driving an unregistered car. In lieu of local plates, you put a decal on your car that says Onappafa. This is an acronym for the organization that’s in the business of getting your car back if it’s been towed, and in defending your “rights” to dodge the car registration taxes.

Anapromex is a new organization that just popped up, and does the same thing that Onappafa does but cheaper.

Both of these use an interesting marketing ploy that leans heavily on “poor you, all you want is a reasonably priced car to get to work to put food on the table for your family, and the big bad greedy government doesn’t deserve the tax they’re trying to impose on your ride.”

Then they pull out the national sovereignty card, saying national sovereignty resides with you the people. As the Anapromex literature says, “All public power emanates from the people and is instituted for the benefit of the people. The people have at all times the inalienable right to alter or modify their form of government.” We’re not talking about modifying the tax code by the ballot box. No, that’s too complicated, just don’t pay the tax and seek the protection of Anapromex.

Anapromex claims Article 14 of the constitution says, “No one shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, possessions, or rights without a trial before previously established courts in which due process is observed and according to laws enacted before the fact”.

In other words, the government can’t take your car away without due process, and if you pay Anapromex or Onappafa, these organizations are there to represent you when and if you ever get your day in court. The police and the taxing authorities know that if you have either of those names on your car, they will be up against a formidable array of attorneys who sill stall the case until your car falls apart. This generally motivates the police to leave you alone.

There is a catch, of course. You need to have the nerve to stare down the police if they do try to take your car. And it only works for the driver who signed up for the services, and you must carry picture ID proving that. Also, the law is even hazier on a foreigner going this route.

So, you might want to go the South Dakota license plate route and make sure your employee never goes near your keys. ,